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Linux gaming benchmarks

08-21-2007, 12:45 AM

Hi all, I know that Quake 4, UT 2004, GtkPerf, fgl_glxgears and ET are used as a reference to benchmark linux systems on Phoronix, I don't believe it really covers the scope of linux games that attempt to stress 3d systems. I'd like to request a series of benchmarks and a database/thread to post results on.

Although with the current state of ati drivers (I know the new driver is coming) it might seem a bit too much, I'm interested in seeing just how much the difference between the fglrx/nvidia and ati/nouveau drivers changes over time. Also it might make ATI/nvidia better support these games under Linux (a good pr stunt would be for an employee from both companies to fix graphics related bugs for Source based games under wine...)

So here's a list of possible games (some are ancient, some are more recent) I've compiled - feel free to post other suggestions.

Wine runs a lot better on nVidia hardware, many games don't even start with fglrx and non-native games are just... not able to give good and stable results.

Nexuiz and Warsow are ok but well, if nVidia is faster with ET, they will be faster with these games, too, I guess. UT3 and ET: QW will play a role in the future, I bet. Compiz etc. benchmarks are useless imho.

Comment

The graphical benchmarks we use most often are Enemy Territory, Doom 3, Quake 4, and SPECViewPerf. We never use fgl_glxgears for conducting benchmarks and GtkPerf is used only on occasion. Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and Unreal Tournament 3 will both be added to our benchmarking suite upon their availability and upon us studying their benchmarking environment.

Currently we don't use any benchmarks that require WINE but with the rapid rate that WINE has been evolving we hope at some point in the future to adapt some of these benchmarks.

Some of the other games you mentioned don't fit our criteria for benchmarking and as much as we would enjoy benchmarking every game under the sun, it's simply not feasible with our limited resources.

Comment

Yeah, Wine is not the way to go right now as far as benchmarks. Especially for ATI hardware. Besides, I have no idea how you would get results from a game like Oblivion when most benchmarks use Fraps and i'm not even sure if that would work with Wine.

I recommend just sticking with the native games, since those will give us the most accurate results. Theres enough native games out there (free and non-free) to get the job done.

Benchmarks between nVidia and ATI should become more interesting once ATI releases the "Holy Drivers". As I call them anyway.

Comment

I'm looking forward to them too - the regularity of monthly driver updates over the past year or so from ATI has impressed me (although the tardiness w.r.t. supporting newer cards hasn't) I've got a new HD2600XT in anticipation - perhaps ATI will blow us away with AVIVO HD support under linux. AIGLX...

Honestly though the best thing that could happen is the opening up of ATI drivers or at least better collaboration with open source developers (if the old driver is becoming depreciated and the new driver is completely new doesn't that make it a candidate for releasing it for free (without ccc) - could that be why ATI hasn't supported HD cards yet...)

Michael what criteria do you use for selecting benchmarks? ATM of the games I mentioned that I've tried out online Savage seems to be the most popular. Savage 2 looks like a candidate too

Comment

I feel benchmarking wine or any emulated type of game is non-indicative of actual system performance. It can only show us how good the game runs using that type of wrapper per say. That wrapper in itself might be limited to specific perfornce's because of lack of shaders and other stuff I have no idea about as it's all very technical at a hardware level I am sure.

What I do feel though, is more in depth benches. Resolutions people actually play their linux games at line 1680x1050 maxed details with AA and AF and a mid rang and a low range. That way we don't see these cpu frames per second capping we see in so many of the pharonix benches.

By following some of the benches you can see when the game is limited by the gpu or cpu of the test machine. All I am getting at is, a low cost heavy hitting machine like a Core2Duo or top end A64 (ie, 3ghz c2d or 6400+ A64) can be had for under $500 typically, atleast in the US, and forgive me if you are not located in the US and prices are higher :/ If that is the case forget what I just said as I understand.

If you do use wine in any benches whatsoever make sure to test games that run native and in wine and take screenshots for visibility differences and performance differences. Like UT classic or Doom3. Games like these will run in wine/cedega and native and comparing the performance between the two is ok as long as there are screenshots to see if the game looks different depending how it is run. If wine ran faster is it lacking any graphical features and such? etc etc etc

Honestly I do all my gaming in Linux and I have no desire or care about any of the free nvidia or ati driver implementations unless they can do 3d as good or better than the binary blob. I know, I know, shame on me... But who cares if you can't play your games with a free driver? I'll only be interested in any of those articles or postings if and when they can play my games with as good or better frames per second.

Imo, your better off posting guides to get older games, like some of the loki games running in linux that have broken compatibility with glibc and such forth. You'll be contributing tons more in this sense than covoring software that almost likely won't go anywhere anytime soon. Maybe in 3-5yrs sure, as my guess, but not now or soon.